Myanmar envoy: Naypyidaw wants to improve bilateral realation with Dhaka

Myanmar envoy: Naypyidaw wants to improve bilateral realation with Dhaka

In a report marking six months since the start of the latest exodus of Rohingyas into southern Bangladesh, Unicef said floods caused by the forthcoming cyclone season are likely to engulf the fragile and unsanitary camps where most of the refugees are living, raising the likelihood of waterborne disease outbreaks and forcing clinics, learning centres and other facilities for children to close.

Responding to a question at the UN regular briefing, Dujarric laid emphasis on creating conditions so that Rohingyas can go home freely, willingly, to a place that is safe and to the place that they called home.

The European Union is likely to come up with “restrictive measures” against Myanmar generals as the foreign ministers of European countries sit on Monday in Brussels, reports UNB.

The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union will begin at 9am (Brussels time) with a discussion on current affairs, allowing ministers to review pressing issues on international agenda, an official told UNB.

Newly appointed Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka Lwin Oo has met Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and discussed various bilateral issues, including the Rohingya crisis.

However, when approached after the meeting on Sunday, the Myanmar envoy did not talk about the Rohingya issue, reports UNB.

“I will try my best to improve and strengthen bilateral and economic relations,” he told reporters at the Foreign Ministry, and left.

Around 700,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh fleeing the violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state which erupted six months ago on August 25, 2017.

In one of the world’s biggest forced migrations in recent years, around half a million people crossed the border in just two months after August 25, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The minister, it said, particularly stressed rebuilding of houses and villages at the Rohingyas’ ancestral home in Rakhine involving international partners to pave ways for voluntary repatriation of the refugees.

According to the statement, Lwin Oo said their Home Ministry, along with labour, immigration and population ministries, were working on the list of 8,032 Myanmar residents handed over by Bangladesh during their home minister’s February 15-17 Dhaka visit.

It said the envoy also appreciated Bangladesh’s donation of three ambulances for the hospitals of Rakhine state and contribution of around $5 million for building cyclone shelters there.

Spokesman for the UN secretary general Stéphane Dujarric has said urgent efforts are needed to help more than 720,000 Rohingya refugee children who are threatened either by the approaching cyclone season in Bangladesh or by ongoing violence and denial of their basic rights in Myanmar.

Early images of tens of thousands of frightened and exhausted families filing through muddy paddy fields or crammed into rickety boats during their flight shocked the world, says the UN migration agency.

During Sunday’s meeting at his office, Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali, however, again insisted for quick and smooth repatriation of over a million Rohingyas, reports BSS.

A Foreign Ministry statement said the minister discussed with Ambassador Lwin Oo about the repatriation process and emphasized implementation of the bilateral agreements smoothly.